


Of Runes and Magical Prisons

by MeganMoonlight



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Background Relationships, Crushes, Emprise du Lion, F/F, Female Characters, Female Protagonist, Female-Centric, Gen, Pre-Femslash, Pre-Relationship, Secret Crush, Sera Being Sera, Trapped, Trouble, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 11:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15266232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganMoonlight/pseuds/MeganMoonlight
Summary: During their stay in Emrpise du Lion, Cassandra, Sera, and Vivienne end up being trapped, and Adaar has to find a way to save them.





	Of Runes and Magical Prisons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MiraMira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraMira/gifts).



Herah Adaar hated Emprise du Lion. She hated it with a passion, almost as much as Dorian did.

She and her party had been scouting the area near the Leontine's Ring when they had accidentally found a hidden entry to the old cave that at first had looked just like any other cave in the area, except that there were various small words in a language that she hadn’t recognized engraved in the walls near the entry.

Walking down the stairs, Herah had been careful not to trip, since the stairs were quite steep. She had no idea how long they had been walking before they had reached a corridor leading to large brass door, but as soon as they had approached it, Herah had immediately felt uneasy. She had no idea what had made her feel like that back then, but she should have known to never disregard her intuition.

When they had found themselves in a large area that had obviously been used as a sort of a hideaway, they had made a mistake of splitting up. Herah had slowly walked up to a large map of Thedas hanging on the wall, but as she had raised one hand to touch it, she had heard Sera yelling. 

"Shite!" 

Before Herah had realized what was going on, a bright light lit up the whole cave, and then she had noticed that Sera, Vivienne, and Cassandra had been surrounded by magical barriers.

For the first few minutes each of them had tried attacking the barriers. Soon, however, they had realized none of their attempts to get out had worked. Each of the arrows shot by Sera, as well as Vivienne’s magical attacks had went right through the domes, one arrow almost nicking Herah’s shoulder. 

Cassandra had glanced at the Inquisitor briefly, before slowly approaching the dome trapping her, and had touched it with the tip of her sword. The blade, just like the other weapons, had went through the magic, but as the Seeker had reached out to touch it with her hand, the barrier stopped her.

"Cassandra, step back,” Herah had said after a while, licking her lips briefly. “Maybe the anchor will break it."

Exhaling quietly, she had focused all her energy and reached out towards the barrier, but nothing had happened. Neither the anchor, nor the barrier, had showed any kind of reaction to one another.

Cursing quietly, Herah had tightened grip on her staff.

"What could have activated those?" Herah had asked, and Vivienne, who had touched the dome surrounding her with one hand, had looked down to where the floor and the magic had met.

“Our arrival. I believe someone must have set them up to protect the cave,” she had said quietly, crouching down to touch the ground.

“But why wasn’t I trapped as well?” Herah frowned. “I was walking right through the middle of the room.”

No one had an answer for that question. 

Sera, more annoyed than anyone else had been, had tried punching the dome again and again, cursing loudly each time her fists had connected with the magical force field. “Stupid bugger!”

Herah touched the barrier trapping Cassandra inside once again. “We have to find a way to get you out of here.”

“Physical attacks don’t seem to work,” Vivienne had stated, observing Sera with the corner of her eye, while the rogue had kicked the barrier a few more times, each time without any results. 

“I’m gonna kick someone’s arse when I get outta here!”

“We should stay calm,” Vivienne had said, and Herah had sighed quietly, looking at the mark on her hand. “The barriers don’t react to any of our weapons, but they clearly stop us from leaving. There must be something this trap is sensitive to.”

They all had fell silent. After a while Herah had raised her head, her eyes meeting Cassandra’s right away. The warrior had been frowning, looking as if she had been angry at herself. Herah hadn’t been wrong.

“I should have been more careful,” the Seeker had muttered, her hands tightening on the sword’s handle. “I should have known it was a trap.”

“It’s not your fault,” Herah had told her, and not for the first time since she met the warrior, she had felt the need to comfort the other woman. She had put one hand on the dome surrounding Cassandra, not caring how she had looked doing that. “It was me who...”

“Inky, your pocket’s making the magic thingy glow, I think,” they had heard Sera say, and Herah had looked down at both pockets of her coat. Indeed, the part of the barrier touching the material had lit up slightly, clearly reacting to the proximity of whatever she had had in her pockets. “What’s up with that?”

“I don’t know.”

Reaching into one pocket, the Inquisitor had taken out a small pouch hiding Frost Essence she had found on the way to Eprise du Lion. As she had brought the pouch closer to the barrier, it had lit up even more. 

“Try with the other barriers as well, my dear,” Vivienne had said, and Herah had done just that. However, as none of the others had reacted to the Essence in any way, the Inquisitor had frowned, wondering what kind of magic could have been used to set up such a trap.

“It’s strange…” she had walked up to Cassandra once again. “Do you have any other crafting materials with you?”

Sadly, it had turned out that the whole party had left all the materials they had collected at the Tower Camp, to make room for new loot. 

That was when she had started thinking, should she go back to the camp to bring some crafting materials to the cave? It hadn’t been an option Herah liked at all, since she hadn’t been sure if her friends would be able to defend themselves if something had attacked them, but that had been the only idea she had had.

“I believe you should go back to the camp, my dear,” Vivienne had said, as if reading Herah’s mind. “Maybe some kind of a magical object could help. I doubt we will accomplish much by standing here and doing nothing, especially since I doubt the barriers will disappear on their own.”

“Wait. Magical objects…”

“What do you mean?” Cassandra had frowned, and Herah had hidden the pouch back in the pocket of her coat, wondering how fast scouts could deliver a message to Skyhold.

“I know who could help us, but…” she had broken off, scratching the back of her head as she had looked at each of her friends. “But I just can’t leave you here all by yourselves.”

As she had said so, her eyes had landed on Cassandra, while the warrior had hidden her sword back in its sheath slowly.

“Go. We will be fine,” she had answered, but Herah still had had doubts. The camp hadn’t been far overall, but just the thought that something could attack Cassandra or the others… she had known she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if something happened to them.

“I…”

“Go.”

“I won’t be long, I promise.”

As Herah had ran out of the cave, all she had thought about was getting in touch with Dagna. 

Now she was running towards the camp, trying not to make much noise, just in case. She still wasn’t sure if they got rid of all the Red Templars in the area, and she really didn’t want to come across anything that could distract her from finding Harding.

Dagna was a specialist when it came to magical objects, and she was also the one who worked with Frost Essence more than anyone else.

It didn’t take her long to get to the bridge leading to the camp. She stopped running only when she reached two soldiers patrolling the area.

“Your Worship? Is there something wrong?” The warrior standing closer to her asked, and Herah, trying to catch her breath, pointed to the buildings on the other side of the Judicael's Crossing. 

“The Seeker, Lady Vivienne, and Sera are trapped in a cave. Take two teams of soldiers and a few scouts and go to the Leontine's Ring. I marked the entrance to the cave with a torch. Hurry. I want the cave protected.”

“Right away, Your Worship,” the woman saluted, before she turned around and ran towards the camp, leaving Herah alone with the other guard, a young man whom she recognized as one of Cullen’s new recruits.

“Wait here,” she told the soldier, who was glancing nervously at the three rings where the dragons used to live. “I’ll send someone to stand guard with you.”

“Of course, Inquisitor.”

The cave was secured by the time Herah sent a letter to Skyhold.

She explained everything that had happened in the last few hours, right from the moment Herah and the others had entered the cave, to finding out that one of the barriers had reacted to proximity of Frost Essence. Hoping that Dagna would come to Emprise du Lion as soon as possible, the Inquisitor tried to stay calm. 

While Herah was busy coming up with a plan of action, Harding once again proved that she was simply irreplaceable. As the Inquisitor decided to stay close to the cave, in case her friends needed her to be there, the dwarf took charge of the scouts and soldiers in the camp. Knowing that the camp was in good hands, Herah could focus all her attention on getting Cassandra, Vivienne, and Sera out of the trap.

For the next few hours she, as well as a couple of soldiers who were standing guard in the cave, tried to come up with a way to break the barriers, however, none of their ideas worked.

Fortunately, they found out that food went through the barriers easily, just like other inanimate objects, which made being trapped a bit more bearable. Even if it still wasn’t a perfect situation, at least Cassandra and the others weren’t hungry, nor cold during the night.

Still, the more time they spent trapped, the more irritated they all became. Especially Sera and Cassandra weren’t handling the situation very well. They both were used to doing everything by themselves, rarely asking anyone for help, and now they both had to depend on others when it came to basic matters such as food or fresh clothes. While Cassandra ended up staying silent most of the time, unless someone asked her a question, Sera kept reminding everyone how much she disliked her current situation as often as she could.

“Sera, we’ll get you out of here soon, I promise,” Herah said one night, leaning back against the wall of the cave as she closed her eyes.

“Yeah, easy for you to say, because you’re not the one trapped by creepy magic!” Sera almost yelled as she laid down on the ground, kicking the barrier one last time.

“Dagna should arrive here any day now.”

“She better! Ugh, stupid magic, stupid barriers…”

Sighing quietly, the mage turned her attention to the Seeker, who was sitting with her back against the barrier, arms crossed, her eyes closed. Herah wasn’t sure if the other woman was asleep or not, but dark circles under Cassandra’s eyes betrayed how tired she was, didn’t matter how many times she repeated that she was fine. Yet, Herah still found it difficult to look away from her. She had no idea how long she sat there observing the Seeker, before she fell asleep.

Dagna arrived in Emprise du Lion almost a week later. 

As soon as Herah saw her walking towards the tents, surrounded by four scouts, she noticed that, for someone who was asked to travel so far to get someone out of trouble, the dwarf was looking far too excited. The Arcanist was carrying a rather large bag on her back, and she couldn’t stop looking around the camp. Only then did Herah realize that it was probably Dagna’s first visit to Emprise du Lion, and everything probably seemed new and exciting to her.

“Inquisitor!” The dwarf smiled brightly as soon as she spotted Herah standing by her tent. “There you are. I brought some crafting materials to check how the barriers you described will react to them. Isn’t it amazing?”

Herah just shook her head at the enthusiasm on Dagna’s face, but couldn’t help smiling back. Seeing the other woman so excited never failed to raise her spirits.

“We don’t know how the barriers work, nor how to destroy them,” Herah said as she led the Arcanist towards the cave about an hour later, after Dagna left her belongings in her tent. “We tried different kinds of weapons and magic, but everything just went right through them. It looks like the barriers work only on people and living animals, not on inanimate objects. At least we were able to provide everyone with food, and furs to sleep on.”

“The way the one barrier you had mentioned reacted to Frost Essence might be the key here,” Dagna stated, looking around curiously as they passed the Judicael's Crossing. “Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you more after I see what we’re dealing with.”

As soon as they reached the cave, Herah led Dagna down to where Cassandra, Sera, and Vivienne were trapped. 

“Widdle!” Sera exclaimed, and Dagna waved at her right away, walking up to the barrier surrounding the rogue. “You have to get us out of here.”

“I’ll try,” she answered, smiling at the elf, before taking off one of her gloves to touch the dome with her bare hand. Running her fingers up and down slowly, Dagna looked as if she was already trying to figure something out. “This is amazing.”

“Because you’re not the one sittin’ in here,” Sera grumbled, and only then the Arcanist scratched the back of her neck, embarrassed.

“Of course, sorry. I just haven’t heard about something like this before, and I’m wondering how it works. If I find out how to let you out, will I be able to learn anything about it? It’s just… fascinating.”

That was the moment when Herah came up to Dagna and put one hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. “If you need anything else, any additional materials or books, just ask, we’ll get them.”

“I’ll get right on it,” the dwarf smiled, tightening the grip on the straps of her bag, before she put it on the ground. Soon the floor around her was covered with books, scrolls, and various crafting materials.

Giving the dwarf more space, Herah walked up to Cassandra. “You’ll get out of here soon.”

Nodding, the Seeker just leaned back against the barrier and closed her eyes. 

Herah wished she knew what else to say to raise the other woman’s spirits, and show Cassandra that she was there for her. Leaving the cave, the mage bit her lower lip, angry at herself. _‘You have to get a grip,’_ she told herself. It was not the time to think about her feelings for the Seeker. There were more important things to do. 

Sighing, she went straight to the camp. Maybe helping Harding with the newest batch of reports would distract her from thinking about Cassandra.

Only three days later, when Herah was preparing a list of everything they needed to send to Skyhold, one of Leliana’s men ran up to her. Giving him a moment to catch his breath, Herah finished a list of herbs they had acquired in the area, before she looked up at the rogue.

“The Arcanist, Your Worship. She asked for you. It’s important.”

Even before the man stopped talking, Herah grabbed her staff and ran out of the tent.

When she arrived in the cave, she saw Sera hugging Dagna, lifting her off the floor, while Dagna giggled, both arms wrapped around the rogue’s neck.

“You’re the best, Widdle!” Sera said, squeezing Dagna once again, before letting her go. 

Herah just exhaled loudly, relieved. “As soon as we help the others, you’ll tell me how did you break the barriers.”

Not even an hour later all three barriers were gone, and Herah, Cassandra, Vivienne, and Sera were sitting in the camp, listening to Dagna, who was explaining how she managed to break the spells.

As it turned out, one of the barriers had reacted to Frost Essence, because, as Dagna assumed, Frost Rune was used to set it up. Each barrier had been sensitive to a different rune, which Dagna had realized as soon as she had noticed how the magic reacted to different types of Essence. Whoever had created this trap clearly knew a lot about magical crafting materials. It was a clever way to protect contents of the cave, since whoever was caught by the barrier would probably end up starving to death. Herah didn't even want to think about that outcome.

After they finished supper the Arcanist, still overjoyed by the new discovery, spent almost the whole evening writing down all her observations, while Herah, Cassandra, and Vivienne were sitting by the fire, listening to one of Sera’s stories, this time about how her friends had visited Val Royeaux before the rogue joined the Inquisition. 

For the first time in more than two weeks Herah could finally let herself relax. Rubbing her hands together to warm up, she wished she was lying in her bed in Skyhold, covered by warm comforter.

However, she couldn’t complain about the current situation too much. Cassandra, who was sitting next to her, was listening to Sera with a mix of amusement and outrage on her face, and Herah tried not to stare at her. Not too much, anyway. She could imagine moving closer to the Seeker and taking hold of the other woman’s hands to warm them up herself. 

“Inky?”

Herah blinked, surprised, turning her head to look at Sera right away. “Yes?”

“You good?”

“Yes. Yes, I am. Sorry. I was lost in thought.”

Before focusing her attention back on the rogue, Herah glanced at Cassandra once again. Their eyes met briefly, and then Cassandra looked down at her hands, as if embarrassed. Wait. Embarrassed? Was that a blush on Cassandra’s face? No, it couldn’t be. It must have been a trick of the light.

Shaking her head, Herah rubbed the palms of her hands together again. Maybe she should lie down. Snow, cold wind, magical prisons, runes, as well as everything that had happened in the last two weeks, seemed to finally catch up with her.

She really couldn’t wait to leave Emprise du Lion.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you'll like it at least a little bit, MiraMira :) 
> 
> I tried to mention as many characters from your list as I could, and for some reason I ended up writing about a made up magical riddle. I hope you won't mind that it's made up, or that I ended up including brief mentions of Adaar/Cassandra and Sera/Dagna.
> 
> Enjoy!


End file.
